7/31/15

This August marks the beginning of our 36th field season in the Bay of Fundy—can you believe it?! For months, members of the team have been figuring out logistics and details for this season. Equipment has been inventoried, organized and ready to be packed into our truck. With scattered right whale sightings in the Bay of Fundy and elsewhere, we're chomping at the bit to get on the water and see who is around.

Organizing camera gear for three expeditions!

Our team will congregate at our field station house in Lubec, Maine, before splitting up to survey three different habitats during the months of August and September. As usual, our Bay of Fundy surveys on R/V Nereid will occur as frequently as the weather allows during those two months. These important surveys that allow us to collect genetic, photographic and behavioral data on right whales are made possible through generous funding provided by Irving Oil and the Island Foundation.

To pack: big squishy pile of safety float coats and suits (the paper mache "Calvin" will stay behind to keep our coworkers on land in check).

We wish we could survey the Gulf of St. Lawrence—over the span of one month, three right whale carcasses were found in the region's waters. Two of the three carcasses were identified (Catalog #2320 "Piper," and Catalog #3923), but cause of death was has not been determined for any of the whales. Unfortunately, we have limited knowledge of how this region is used by the whales, and there are little to no protective measures to protect right whales when they are there.

The New England Aquarium is part of a massive collaborative effort to protect critically endangered North Atlantic right whales from ship strikes, gear entanglements and other threats. All work conducted and images collected in US waters are under scientific permit from NMFS. All right whale research conducted in Canadian waters are under scientific permit from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.